Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Radio Security

If you have a $30 scanner you can listen to CPD radio traffic on twelve different zones, six different citywides, and if you know a Radio Shack geek, you can find the other frequencies set aside for other traffic.

For $80, you can buy a transceiver and broadcast on those frequencies. The FCC might catch you or they might not, depending on weather or not you move around when their triangulation attempts kick into gear.

Interim Police Supt. John Escalante has ordered an investigation into “absolutely unacceptable” racial slurs broadcast on a police frequency that was recorded and circulated online, a spokesman said.

Of course it's unacceptable. But was it the police?

But late Monday, a spokeswoman for the Office of Emergency Management and Communications said the broadcast doesn’t appear to have been made with the use of a “city-programmed” radio.

We won't go into the particulars, but everyone on the job knows that there are certain identifier codes that are transmitted with CPD-issued radios. This is how they know this isn't a Department issued radio. But that didn't stop this nonsense:

Activist Will Calloway and reporter Brandon Smith, who pursued the legal case that got the Laquan McDonald video released, spoke out against police racism outside City Hall Monday.

"I think it speaks for itself," Calloway said, citing the recording as proof of "systemic racism that's going on and that's present in the Police Department."

Really moron? We just explained how with $80 and some spare time, you can commit all sorts of mischief. We haven't even touched on the real damage someone with a real agenda could do....someone like....

But that wouldn't be possible - someone with a vested interest in maintaining high tensions to provoke incidents and provide "proof" of some practice, to spend $80 to make potentially millions.

61 Comments:

Anonymous said...

All the news media outlets reported that a chicago cop said that phrase. No reason to wait anymore until all the facts cone out. In this day and age of instant gratification and social media the truth does not matter, just being 1st does. The FOP needs to start litigating these matters against CPD by the leftist media for slander, until then these media outlets will continue to just spew lies bc when they are wrong nobody cares, nobody hooks them to any kind of standards anymore. America is lost, kim foxx just won on an anti police campaign syst fetal and watch the genocide,

SCC - You raise several really crucial issues on radio security. Our radio system needs an overhaul, starting with encrypted or trunked radios which would keep hackers off the air - and also keep police buffs, criminals & Chuck Goudie from monitoring calls. You don't have to look to far since ISP & CC Sheriff have a trunked network. The county can even remotely turn off a unit that was stolen.

This is not a new issue - remember when CFD had slurs transmitted about 15 years ago & the culprit was from a West side engine company?

And Beat 1200 - please remember that transmitting drains your battery, try carrying a spare when you want to lead the "charge of the Light Brigade"!!!

Most serious agencies have long since gone to 800mhz digital trunking systems that leave most of the low technology assholes behind . If a "vested intrest" wanted to cause mayhem for profit there would still be ways . I have always thought that the department would profit greatly by issuing a radio to each officer along with a call sign . As a force multiplier , this would extend the operationality of officers to include their commutes , side jobs and at home . Calling 911 is very inefficient but jumping on the zone would provide real time actionable intelligence to on duty officers most likely resulting in more offenders caught . One can dream .

Are you trying to insinuate that the blm movemwnt could have something to do with this. That they could further their agenda by purposefully transmitting racial slurs over police radios. Nah. Them to me is just urban chatter. Hell i hear that word on the west being thrown out by black people in every sentence they speak. And they say its just the way they communicate. You mean we might have to start locking up black people for using ugly slurs like that against they own. Hate crime on each other disregarding color and treating them equally under the eyes of the law. Could it be that they the blm are actually turning things around for us and really attempting to change the justice system to be applied equally. Hell next thing you know blm will get petitions signed so that we can actually put descriptions of offenders over the air bc they say if you can say a black person did it then how are you gonna prove it. BLM. (Quiet, sarcasm, laughter).

Maybe they can ratchet up the racial tensions to egg on a few more thugs to shoot at the nasty racist police. Just ask NYC and PG County, there are crazy people out there. Sometimes their brothers even video the attack for you to use as evidence.

It's your fault. It is always your fault. You be the man! You be the poleece! And the ambulance chasing sleaze ball lawyer knows you represent those deep pockets that will give up that sweet, sweet settlement.

I don't know why we can't go digital??? Aurora went that route and you can't get them on the app!! Can you imagine if these shit heads have one of our radios? They can press the key and make it almost impossible of us to get through!

About 10 years ago someone would call out a 10-1 but not give a location and the dispatcher would have to take a radio roll call to make sure everyone was ok. This would happen on a regular basis. I'm not sure if they figured out who was doing it because it wasn't a CPD radio.

Someone like Bill Ayers and his murdering wife Bernardine Dohrn the terrorist bombers that poison the minds of our youth? Could they and their minions be up to this? No, never. They are upstanding Americans.

Shoot, there was someone illegally broadcasting when I was working and I retired four years ago. He would come on,say something stupid and then disappear for awhile. They couldn't catch him then and I doubt they will catch him now.

I know, I know, I'll get jumped on for this because there was a minimal chance of interferring with a truly urgent radio call by doing the following: Wasn't it great when you could key out the moron micro-managing supervisor. It not only would drive them absolutely nuts but often would moderate their on going behavior. "Hey squad, there's a car parked 9 feet from a BBBRRRRZZZZZZTTTTTT. Squad, did you cop..BBBRRRZZZZTTTTT , squad can you read BBRRRRZZZZTTTTT.

The FOP needs to start litigating these matters against CPD by the leftist media for slander, until then these media outlets will continue to just spew lies bc when they are wrong nobody cares, nobody hooks them to any kind of standards anymore.

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God I hope your a house mouse. You don't have enough common sense to work the street. You'll get someone hurt. If your life revolves are what the press thinks of you then you have no life. Please go out and try to get one. While your out there try to find a clue.

PS maybe Trump can change the libel laws for you. He does like the uneducated voter.

Calling 911 is very inefficient but jumping on the zone would provide real time actionable intelligence to on duty officers most likely resulting in more offenders caught . One can dream .

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Dream on, buddy. You forget that the police have been eviscerated. "Real time actionable intelligence?" Oh boy, you must be that hardcore copper that hasn't gotten the message yet. Oh well, maybe a criminal prosecution for doing your job will change your mind.

Trust me you don't want the secure 800 mz radio like the suburbs. It's too busy here for that. With the secure 800 you have to wait 1-2 seconds to talk after you hear a double beep. People in this department can't handle a regular push button and talk radio... It would be a mess if we had that system plus they sound like they are in a tin can when talking. Plus 800 has gps in it...

Someone like Bill Ayers and his murdering wife Bernardine Dohrn the terrorist bombers that poison the minds of our youth? Could they and their minions be up to this? No, never. They are upstanding Americans.

Disgusting scum we have in this city. Disgusting.

3/16/2016 05:31:00 AMAnd little Louie Gutierrez FALN bomber connections, theses people organized the Trump riot, they are the cause of this the injured coppers innocent citizens should bring a class action lawsuit against them and rahm, plus johnny for not equipping police properly and stabilizing a lethal situation quickly! Coppers hurt, scum thugs allowed to do this? as usual barry does not condemn this because him and ayers and other criminals like sharpton "I owe millions in taxes and have total white house access" why is this criminal not in jail? Why is hillary not indicted? God please bless police everywhere!

It could have been a streets and san guy too. The tow guy from S and S in 018 used to have a radio and he would come over the air on zone 4 stating his truck number asking for a squad car to help him out. A sergeant told him to stop doing it and he stopped.

$80 dollars, for even less You can get a BaoFeng HT that is completely open, meaning it can transmit on all received. I am a hamradio operator and I have one. It will do all the public service frequencies. Chicago would not have this problem if they updated their com' system to a modern digital one. Motorola, Vertex, Maxon, ICOM could fix you up. But Rahm and company are too busy greasing palms to think about spending money on anything like that. We used to have a FCC that actively monitored such things and would hunt down and prosecute people who did this. But like everything else the FCC is now run by political hanks not the engineers that used to run it.

I have said this before. Somebody in this city and dept. Is making big money on our radio contracts. Jonathan Lewin and Marty Ryczak us ed to run the radio program. Our radios are crap. Throw Marv Shearer into the mix. All want to impress by saving money but buy crap products.

I had one of those knock off transceivers when I drove to and from work through the ghetto. It could have been a lifesaver but thank God it was never needed.

A few years ago an off duty cop came into our station and was rightfully mad as hell that the had been shot at and returned fire on the Westside. He called it in and after several minutes decided to get the hell our of there and came in. The call was never dispatched.

HINT: It may be better to call your district/local desk than 9-1-1 in the event of an on the way to work emergency. Keep those numbers on your cell phone.

"Earlier this month, the FCC imposed a $25,000 fine against a New York man for operating a radio transmitter without a license and interfering with the licensed radio communications system of the local fire department. Section 301 of the Communications Act provides that “[n]o person shall use or operate any apparatus for the transmission of energy or communications or signals by radio . . . except under and in accordance with [the Act] and with a license.” Section 333 of the Act prohibits a person from willfully or maliciously interfering with any radio communications of any station licensed or authorized under the Act or operated by the United States government."

The well-informed citizen, familiar with how things work, can really be "the extra eyes and ears of the police." I know of several felony arrests that hinged on someone who knew what was going on around them and thus knew what to look for.

Day watch stopped a susp. veh. and it had a whole s__tload of rolled quarters in there. Someone out there remembered from listening to the zone that a laundromat had been burglarized the night before, and telephoned it in so the dispatcher could tell that specific unit to hold on to 'em. Lots worse stuff too. Once two young ofc. had two bangers on the hood -- and a, well, disguised deadly weapon, closed. Guy calls in, asks dispatcher to have 24XX step out of earshot of the offenders, and passes along what that thing is and how it works. The ofc. might not have seen that one before, but this was the easy way to learn. You don't want the other way.

Once it was a guy with a fancy Nikon around his neck right across the street from a school, trying to lure little kids "to come have their picture taken." Lightning response from two districts -- it was right on the edge between them. Turned out he had warrants and away he went. Camera was probably hot too...

Anyone in favor of 800/trunked, it's worse. As another commenter noted, there's a delay after you key the mic. Second, if someone else is talking and you key up you just get a honking sound and nobody can hear you. When my agency went to 800s 15 years ago they told us we'd have more channels, better service, etc. They also claimed if you were in a fight and the dispatcher was broadcasting, you could key up and they would hear you (even though nobody else could) and stop to let you in. Yeah, that didn't happen. I had an entire pursuit, crashed and the driver ran while holding the button down trying to call it out as dispatch was broadcasting some stupid fireworks complaint.

You think it's secure? It's not. 800 Mhz trunked systems, at least the common Motorola ones do use rotating frequencies and a controller channel that sounds like a white noise. But a simple Radio Shack scanner with "trunk tracker" can listen in and select a specific channel. That's because the radios have to broadcast a talkgroup ID imbedded in the signal, and a scanner can do the same thing to listen to them. And those talkgroup numbers will get out in short order, they always do. There are internet forums I've found where dopers are repeating things they heard on a scanner listening to a large regional narcotics task force - which is supposedly on a secure frequency.

Don't know what you're paying for a normal portable now, but an 800 Mhz Motorola is about 3-4K. Oh, and our agencies in this area have been informed they're obsolete and the manufacturer won't support them now so we have to pay for P25 digital systems. Which are mandated federally including interoperability so fire, ambulance, public works, etc. can all listen to us now.

I heard it from a reliable source that the non-police chatter on the police radio was actually placed by a BLM (Bow-L-Movement) "official" to fuel their raciss agenda and make it appear that the police are not being nice. There may also be a reason why the former AG left his office; especially since some people were catching on that he had something to do with Fast & Furious? And wasn't he placed there by the divider -in-chief?

God I hope your a house mouse. You don't have enough common sense to work the street. You'll get someone hurt. If your life revolves are what the press thinks of you then you have no life. Please go out and try to get one. While your out there try to find a clue.

PS maybe Trump can change the libel laws for you. He does like the uneducated voter.

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I agree with first poster. You're not a cop so stop with the "house mouse" bullshit. The news propagates BS myths and is directly responsible for the emboldened attitude I see working in the hood. Everyone on this job in the hood sees that. I can care less. Let them kill each other. You, however, are a pussy that doesn't work in the ghetto, if at all on the police. People like you make me want to vote trump

Anonymous Anonymous said...God I hope your a house mouse. You don't have enough common sense to work the street. You'll get someone hurt. If your life revolves are what the press thinks of you then you have no life. Please go out and try to get one. While your out there try to find a clue.

PS maybe Trump can change the libel laws for you. He does like the uneducated voter.

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I agree with first poster. You're not a cop so stop with the "house mouse" bullshit. The news propagates BS myths and is directly responsible for the emboldened attitude I see working in the hood. Everyone on this job in the hood sees that. I can care less. Let them kill each other. You, however, are a pussy that doesn't work in the ghetto, if at all on the police. People like you make me want to vote trump

3/17/2016 12:43:00 AM

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#3 are you also #1? Touchy Touchy. I'd bet dollars to donuts poster number 2 is a copper. As far as Trump goes he's all bunkun for the masses. Let's hear what he told to the NY Times. If that tape gets released I'll guess he told them most of the shit he's telling the trailer park folks is bs. But if the alternative is the lying bitch then it's got to be trumpster.

The airports have encrypted radios, you cannot even communicate with there "secure channel" without the airport handset, why is this not citywide? You cannot even hear airport transmissions on scanners this should be done and done now how about it mayor?

The airports have encrypted radios, you cannot even communicate with there "secure channel" without the airport handset, why is this not citywide? You cannot even hear airport transmissions on scanners this should be done and done now how about it mayor?

3/17/2016 04:16:00 PM

Maybe some bored newsie could look into the fact that, after 911, the Feds mandated all local first responders would have to be able to communicate directly with each other (a major failure in NYC during the attacks). There was a ton of Federal money handed over to the City to MAKE THIS HAPPEN (and to cities all over this country). The proper radios were not purchased. The technology does not comply. In a disaster, we will be unable to communicate. The money disappeared.

there is a good reason you dont want to go digital. For one how does calling for help and no one being able to understand/hear you unless you are in a perfect spot sound. And two you guys will get a shit ton more interfernce with digital.

For those that are clueless everything can be hack, radios fall off trucks, police officers leave and radio become hack able. No system is perfect, no operator is perfect, u need know your limitations. Someone pulled a stupid and now everybody in political power whats the "E" good luck with a system that supports multiple users, id's are not proven and have failures as well. If the city pull their head out of their a** officers would have assigned radios to them, their would not be others floating around. Major events will always cause radios to be on the mass and floating around. In addition to multiple personnel having radios that have different functions that have access to zone or citywides. Trunked systems have delays and are not the answer either, waste money and time / effort.